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upworthy

childhood

Steve Burns at Galaxy Con in 2023


In the wake of the docuseries "Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV," kids who grew up watching Nickelodeon are reeling a bit. The documentary unveiled a toxic culture of abuse and exploitation at the network, tainting 90s kids' childhood memories with disturbing behind-the-scenes details of their favorite shows.

But a beacon of light from Nickelodeon still shines in Steve from "Blue's Clues." Steve Burns may have broken children's hearts when he left the show to go to college, but the beloved host has remained a wholesome icon for millennials and Gen Zers who watched him growing up.

In fact, Steve is still bringing comfort to millions, and his latest video on TikTok is a perfect example of how. In a one-minute TikTok, he says only a handful of words, but people are finding themselves tearing up if not outright bawling by the end of it.

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Billie Eilish/YouTube, @carie_momo/TikTok

Life is beautiful.

Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” can bring most folks to tears already. After all, the song, created for a pivotal part in the “Barbie” movie, touches on the special kind of grief one feels for their younger, more carefree self that often fades away as we become adults. Plus Eilish’s airy, wistful voice feels innocent and weary all at the same time, touching right on the heartstrings.

Now, add onto that home video footage that perfectly shows the beauty and wonder of childhood that exists beyond the limits of time and space… and…excuse me? Does someone have a tissue?
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Dutch filmmaker Frans Hofmeester filmed his daughter every week for 20 years.

Anyone who has raised kids knows the truth of the saying, "the days are long, but the years are short." Parenting when you're in the thick of it can feel neverending, but in hindsight, the time goes by too fast. Kids grow and change so constantly, it's hard to keep up. You blink and suddenly your baby becomes a toddler, your toddler becomes a kid, your kid becomes a teen and your teen becomes a full-fledged adult.

As time goes by, you try desperately to document it while also staying in the present. It gets harder with each kid, as life gets busier. (A commonly joked-about reality is how the first baby gets an elaborate baby book and the last baby gets a few photos on a hard drive somewhere.) But one dad purposefully set out from the start to create a record of his daughter's growth and change, and the result is nothing short of extraordinary.

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At a time when we could all use an uplift, a story of unexpected friendship and honest-to-goodness magic is warming people's hearts. And it's one of those stories that just gets better and better.

A woman named Kelly Victoria shared the story on Twitter. "At the beginning of the pandemic I went through some painful personal stuff," she wrote, "and would often go out at night for long walks because no one was around and I couldn't sleep anyway. One night I was walking down my street and noticed that someone had set up a few little objects in a tree planter, and upon closer inspection, I realized it was a fairy garden with a little note about the 4-year-old girl who felt lonely in quarantine and wanted to spread some cheer."

The fairy garden was set up by a tree, and a note on the tree read:

"Our 4 year old made this to brighten your day

Please add to the magic, but don't take away

These days can be hard, but we're in this together

So enjoy our fairy garden and some nicer weather."

The next day, Kelly wrote a note to the little girl, pretending to be a fairy named Sapphire that "had come to live in the tree because she had set it up so nicely." She left the note on the tree during her walk that night.

In her note, Sapphire said she would leave some lucky dice for the girl if she did these things:

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